Improvement in barbed fence-wires



L. BAGGER.

BRBED FENCE-WIRE. N0.183,883. Patented 0ct.31,1876.

www j@ @fsf/M UNITED STATES PATENT. Grenen.

LOUIS BAGGER, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN BARBED FENCE-WIRES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 183,883, dated October31, 1876; application filed August 16, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIS BAGGER, of Washington, in the county ofWashington and District of Columbia, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Barbed Fence- Wire; and I do hereby declare thatthe following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, whichwill enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make anduse the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, whichform a part of this specification.

This invention relates to that class of barbed wire for fences in whichthe barbs or spurs form integral parts of the wire; and it consists incompressing or flattening the wire in equidistant sections, leaving theintervening or alternating sections untouched, and cutting the barbs orspurs from said compressed or flattened sections, substantially ashereinafter more fully described.

In the drawing, Figure l represents a piece of wire, showing the flatsections alternating with the plain or untouched sections, as it appearsprevious to the cutting of the barbs. Fig. 2 represents the same sectionafter the barbs have been cut and the wire has been twisted. Fig. 3represents a blank in which the attened sections are so formed as topresent faces at an angle to each other, and Fig. 4 represents the sameblank after the barbs have been cut.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all thefigures.

A is the wire, preferably, but not necessarily, round. B are theflattened or indented parts, and C the sections, alternating with theformer where the wire is left intact. b are the barbs or spurs, cut fromone or both edges of the flattened parts, or from the centers thereof,if desired. I prefer, however, to cut them from the edge, as shown inthe drawing.

The flattened sections are easily produced by passing the wire, afterheating, through suitably-constructed dies or rollers; or they mayreadily be made by hand, with a hammer, upon an anvil.

The barbs b may either be cut from the wire by the same operation, or bythe same machine which produces the flattened parts, or they may be cutafterward.

When the barbs are cut from sections whose faces lie in the same plane,as in Fig. l, I prefer to twist the wire, as shown in Fig. 2, so as topresent the points or barbs in all directions; but when the barbs arecut from blanks in which the flattened sections present faces at anangle to each other, as in Fig. 3, the wire need not be twisted. Iprefer to use this style of blank when a cheap grade of wire is used, aslow grades of wire do not stand twisting as well as the betterqualities.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I do not cut the barbs from thesurface of the Wire, but rather from the interior or body of the Wire,by making blanks in which the metal of the interior or body of the wireis brought out by compressing alternate sections, thereby entirelychanging the character of the wire.

Where, in the foregoing description, I have used the words iattened7 oratf I do not desire these to be understood as meaning dat, or straight,or plane surfaces only, but the compressed or indented portions of thewire, without reference to the precise contour or surface shape of theseindents. In practice itis preferable to make these indents or flattenedsections with elongated and slightlyconcave faces or surfaces, inclininggradually, and not abruptly, from the full body of the wire, for thethreefold reason that these indents are easier to make than perfectlystraight and square ones, they do not weaken the wire, and the barb cutfrom them has a stout and substantial base.

My improved barbed fence-wire can be made from ordinary wire bymachinery of the most simple construction, so that I can furnish it tothe trade or to consumers at a slight advance on the cost of the plainwire. The barbs do not readily bend or break, and the barbed wire can bereadily coiled for trans portation, and again uncoiled for use, withoutbecoming entangled.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent In testimony that I claimthe foregoing as of the United Statesmy own I have hereto affixed mysignature in A barbed fence-wire, consisting of a wire presence oftwowitnessesf.

having indents or attened sections B, from LOUIS BAGGER.

which the barbs b are eut, alternating with Witnesses:

full wire-sections C, substantially as and for G. F. TRILL,

the purpose herein shown and specified. E. E. COURT.

